Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Thursday 11th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tim Yeo (South Suffolk) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman came into the House 30 years ago. Question 8; we are grateful to the hon. Gentleman.

[Mr Tim Yeo (South Suffolk) (Con)]

8. What assessment he has made of Ofgem’s electricity capacity assessment report 2013.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Davey]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend and his colleagues from Cornwall, who have been true champions for green energy and the impact that will have on jobs and the economy in Cornwall. He will know that I have already visited Cornwall, but I am very keen to visit again because it is such a powerhouse behind our low-carbon economy.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Caroline Flint—[Interruption.] Caroline Flint?

[Caroline Flint (Don Valley) (Lab)]

I beg your pardon, Mr Speaker. I was just caught there by the different opinions on the coalition Benches—whether to be pro-renewables in the south-west or not.

May I join the Secretary of State in remembering the 167 people who lost their lives on Piper Alpha 25 years ago? That stands to remind us continually of the vital importance of rigorous health and safety in our energy industry.

When I asked the Minister, the right hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker), at the last Energy and Climate Change questions exactly how many customers on dead tariffs would be moved to a cheaper deal, he said:

“I cannot give the right hon. Lady the exact figure off the top of my head, so I will write to her on that.”—[Official Report, 6 June 2013; Vol. 563, c. 1646.]

Twenty minutes ago I received a letter from him telling me he did not know the answer, so let me tell the Secretary of State that companies like British Gas and SSE—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I just say to the shadow Secretary of State that we have a lot of questions to get through? What we need is a short sentence and then we can move on.

[Caroline Flint]

British Gas and SSE between them have more than 20 million customers, and they have told me that they do not have any customers on dead tariffs. Can the Secretary of State explain just how the Prime Minister’s plan to put everyone on the cheapest tariff is actually going to work?